1. Log in now to remove adverts - no adverts at all to registered members!

Football Agents

Discussion in 'Swansea City' started by Jager, Jun 10, 2011.

?

What are football agents ?

Poll closed Jul 11, 2011.
  1. Money grabbing bastards

    10 vote(s)
    43.5%
  2. Dirty stinking leeches

    8 vote(s)
    34.8%
  3. Scumbags

    1 vote(s)
    4.3%
  4. Useless waste of space bloodsuckers

    1 vote(s)
    4.3%
  5. They are ok (I am insane)

    3 vote(s)
    13.0%
Multiple votes are allowed.
  1. ShanghaiSwan

    ShanghaiSwan New Member

    Joined:
    May 18, 2011
    Messages:
    1,324
    Likes Received:
    3
    If you think there is a world of difference between those to agents, that seems to suggest that you think one of them is ok. That is my point. There are a few bad ones, but that doesn't make them all bad. Or have I misunderstood you. There are good and bad people all over. I just don't think it's right to tar everyone with the same brush just because of a few bad eggs.

    What did the Ronaldo agent do to deserve his money? I've no idea, but I bet he worked his butt off. And the high reward isn't the result of just that one piece of work, but all the other work he's put into this job for his whole career. It's like asking how come a footballer deserves so much for sitting on the bench? We could all sit on a bunch. But that's not what they are being paid for.

    I'm not defending rogue agents, but I don't like to see the good ones get a bad rap.
     
    #41
  2. Jager

    Jager Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2011
    Messages:
    7,353
    Likes Received:
    2,072
    The world of difference is the fact that some agents are there to help players at that level, so serve a purpose as the parents of the child involved has no idea on how to progress, they often help when a parent is out of depth, they act more like a scout than an agent.

    But if a player is good enough to become a pro it's up to them to have an agent or not, why should a club finance an agent to such an extent that they earn a commision from a club ? They are a middle man that complicate things to such an extent that it adds a fortune to the costs of doing business, if these vermin are to exist within the game, it should be regulated, there should be transparency, there should be a fixed fee for doing business paid by the player, not a commision based on a percentage of the transfer fee!

    If for example an agent earns 10% on a transfer fee of £1m which is £100k , and the same agent was involved in another transfer worth £10m , his commision is £1m did he work ten times as hard on the second transfer ?
     
    #42
  3. ShanghaiSwan

    ShanghaiSwan New Member

    Joined:
    May 18, 2011
    Messages:
    1,324
    Likes Received:
    3
    Jager - I totally agree with your point about percentage commissions. This also happens with estate agent sales and with the solicitor who's doing the transaction. Last place I bought I refused to deal with a few solicitors and got a fixed price on instead. None of them could come up with a reasonable explanation of what it cost extra to buy a more expensive property when they were doing exactly the same amount of work. I disagree with this way of charging in all professions and refuse to accept it wherever possible. But as always, there are exceptions. It takes more work to sell a £10m house than to sell a £100k house. I'm no expert but I imagine there's also much, much more work with a very big transfer (e.g. £30m) than will a run of the mill £50k transfer. Though obviously the amount of work doesn't rise in direct relation to the transfer fee. So we seem agreed on that point.

    I also agree that there needs to be more transparency. But the bit I disagree with is that I don't think all this leads to the conclusion that all agents are scum, etc. Many do an honest job and provide a good service. They may work at the bottom end and I bet some don't even earn much. I feel like you know of a few bad ones so are then making the assumption that they are all like. It seem like those people who used to say that all football fans were hooligans. And their 'proof' was lots of arrests and violence and football matches. But we all know that this is just a very small minority and the majority of fans are not like that. Same with agents. And it's not their fault that there aren't any rules in place.
     
    #43
  4. Jager

    Jager Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2011
    Messages:
    7,353
    Likes Received:
    2,072
    So let's look at this way as we are not going to agree I think here

    A private parking company issues a ticket in a car park, let's say it's tesco forestfach , you go shopping and spend a grand there on a tv shopping and grabbing some thing to eat, you spend just over two hours there, the parking company has a rule for two hours only, so issue you with an invoice, this is completely unenforceable yet they threaten you with court and ccj's etc, and increase costs x3 . The advice by the way is to ignore the scammers.

    Now that business is unregulated as football agencies, they both have obscene fees, they both operate unethically , and they both put themselves above the client, and it's their own self interest and cash in their pockets that interest them, there may be good guys out there but they are in a minority, actually for a parking company there are no good guys just scammers!

    These people don't want regulation, simply because their obscene fees will be curtailed, and they would have to up front instead of the bungs many of them are accused of taking, the agents are the death of football!
     
    #44
  5. mustyfrog

    mustyfrog Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 7, 2011
    Messages:
    27,702
    Likes Received:
    10,754
    are players that brain dead they need someone to negotiate deals for them
     
    #45
  6. Jager

    Jager Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2011
    Messages:
    7,353
    Likes Received:
    2,072
    So agents fees amounted to £67m in 2009/10 season, to put into context for you, that figure is about the same for tv rights to all 72 clubs each year, that is how much money they take out of the game, you take agents out of the equation , and that could double the amount each team gets in the lower divisions, you take that figure out and put it into grass roots football in the UK, and that will pay for a hell of a lot of things.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/9244286.stm

    And that is just the premier league
     
    #46

Share This Page